Let me just start this review by saying that it is very bizarre to be seeing so many legitimately decent to good movies released this early in the year. Especially compared to the underwhelming, non-eventful Golden Globes and SAGs nominations this past week. After spending nearly a year struggling to find something worthwhile to recommend for movie fans, things seem to be quickly looking up for the rest of 2021. Simon Stone’s new biopic for Netflix, The Dig, now joins Paul Greengrass’ News of the World and Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Our Friend as three films to set the standard for the latter period of social distancing.
Set in the English countryside in 1939, independent excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) is hired by landowner and recent widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) to dig and explore giant burial mounds right underneath her estate. Fairly quickly Basil is convinced a large wooden ship from the Dark Ages with artifacts from that era are inside. With the help of government-selected archeologists, Edith’s photographer cousin Rory (Johnny Flynn), and her young son Robert (Archie Barnes), the group sets out to discover what lies beneath the dirt and how much it is worth, both to the government and the estate. Along the way, Basil starts spending more time with Edith and Robert than his own wife, and Edith has to come to terms with her already existing physical vulnerability from stress-induced health problems.
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Ben Chaplin and Lily James co-star as not so happily married archeologists whom Rory gets in between. The Dig is based on the 2007 novel of the same title by John Preston, which in turn is based on real events at the Sutton Hoo estate in Suffolk, England. What’s nice about Stone’s new film is that the direction and narrative are rather restrained and don’t feel the need to dramatize too much with a built-in antagonist or political stance. That’s not to say there isn’t some fictionalization like all biopics, with Rory being a completely made up character and the real Edith actually 56 years old at the time rather than Mulligan’s 34. The Dig is only Stone’s second effort directing a film after starting his career as an actor, and already shows he’s a natural behind the camera. Fiennes has always been one of my favorite actors and doesn’t disappoint as the male lead as usual. And Mulligan has been enjoying her share of hype this winter between The Dig and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, with two completely different characters she equally pulls off.
The Dig could have been easily convoluted as a story or cheesy with its tone, but instead is one of the better options on streaming for February.
Have you seen The Dig movie? Did it live up to your expectations? Let us know in the comments!
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